Despite Heartbreaking Breakup With Girlfriend Charlotte Sine, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc Shows Up for His Late Godfather’s Charity Event

After a hiatus of two years, the Jules Bianchi Charity Gala returned on Monday. They kept the event on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Charles Leclerc, despite his recent breakup, was present at the charity event and had pictures taken with Jules’ family members.

Jules Bianchi died after a fatal crash at the 2014 Japanese GP. The French driver, going at a high speed in a rain-affected race, crashed into a recovery vehicle that was close to the track. After the crash, Jules underwent emergency surgery and was kept in an induced coma. Bianchi eventually died on 17 July 2015.

Charles Leclerc contributes to Jules Bianchi’s auction

The Jules Bianchi Charity event collected a whopping sum of $97,921. The annual event took place at the Restaurant Alain LLORCA in La Colle-sur-Loup. Association Jules Bianchi posted the photos from the event on Instagram.

The caption to the post read, “Thank you to all the people who attended the live auction, Charles Leclerc and the Scuderia Ferrari for their lots, the chef Alain Llorca and all the artists for making the event even more special.”

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In the photos, we can make out that Charles had some of his own stuff auctioned as well. Among the items in the photos were his crash helmet, a signed cap, and a racing suit, among other things. It was a nice gesture from the Monegasque to remember his godfather given how he is going through a tough time personally.

Pierre Gasly’s Japanese GP incident left Jules’ father furious

The race was red-flagged after Carlos Sainz’s crash at the rain-affected Japanese GP. However, before all the drivers could make their way into the pit lane, we saw a recovery vehicle make its way onto the track. Pierre Gasly, owing to low visibility, could not see the recovery vehicle until the very last moment. As he made a last-moment maneuver to dodge the vehicle, fans and the entire F1 fraternity were furious.

Jules’ father, Philippe Bianchi, took to Instagram to express his anger. He wrote, “No respect for the life of the driver. No respect for Jules’ memory. Incredible” 

Crash reported Pierre Gasly as saying, “We lost Jules eight years ago in similar conditions, with a crane on track in the gravel.”

“I don’t understand how eight years later, in similar conditions, we can see a crane. Not even in the gravel, on the racing line! It is not respectful to Jules, his family or his loved ones, or all of us,” he added.

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We hope FIA comes up with better safety car and recovery vehicle deployment rules to make sure such incidents do not happen again in the future. This is the least they could do to pay their respect to Jules.